


No Chance, No Way

by orphan_account



Series: Some Type of Love [2]
Category: Fallout (Video Games), Fallout 4
Genre: Humor, M/M, a bit of spoilers, none from the main story though
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-09
Updated: 2016-01-09
Packaged: 2018-05-12 17:40:27
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,538
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5674804
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“It is just, I had read the most recent edition of the Publick Occurrence and . . . “</p>
<p>She trailed off, clearly expecting MacCready to follow. He didn’t, not at all. “Okay. Um, how did that . . .go?”</p>
<p>Edna’s fans began whirring faster. Were robots programmed to experience nervousness? “The article you were featured in, it had given me a sort of inspiration,” She started quickly, her French accent causing the words to be a little too difficult to process right away. “I was wondering if I could ask you a question  -  “</p>
<p>By then, MacCready had caught up to the conversation. “Whoa, whoa, whoa, wait  -  What’re you talking about? Piper put me in the paper?”</p>
            </blockquote>





	No Chance, No Way

**Author's Note:**

> The title is from "I Won't Say I'm In Love" from Disney's Hercules

The citizens of Diamond City weren’t exactly fond of people like MacCready. They liked their quiet and peace, and mercenaries don’t exactly come across as the friendly next door neighbor type. It was actually one of the reasons he kind of liked it there. Nobody went out of their way to interact with him unless it was to give him a dirty look, and he couldn’t ask anything more from them. He and the most of the companions weren’t here that often anyway, holing up back at the Red Rocket closest to Sanctuary. Logan liked to keep it close to home, but he shelled out the caps for the Home Plate in the city’s market just in case they were nearby. Piper and Nick were there nearly everyday as Diamond City was their origin, but the others stopped by as well seeing as it was the only settlement with a pool table.

He knew Hancock preferred Home Plate over the gas station, which was saying a lot. Diamond City was borderline violent for their hatred of ghouls and yet the he would rather endure them than the stink eye he gets from Danse. He stayed inside, mostly, but it wasn’t so bad. Deacon kept him company and even if he did venture out, not one person said a thing. They didn’t know Logan like MacCready or the others did. To them, he looked about as dangerous as a berserk super mutant. It was funny really, because MacCready had seen him scream bloody murder when a radroach got too close to him, though he kept his mouth shut. His affiliation with the vaultie kept the City Guard off his back.

It was also why he didn’t expect anyone to talk to him while he was in the city. All of the aforementioned reasons should have made it so no one would want anything to do with him. He wouldn’t have even processed the words spoken to him if they hadn’t said his name, loud and clear.

“Excuse me, _monsieur_ , you are MacCready, no?”

If anyone asked for your name in the Commonwealth, it can only mean two things: They want to hire you or they want to kill you. Seeing as MacCready wasn’t looking for any job openings, he tensed up as he chanced a peek over his shoulder to find the person addressing him. He expected to see an opposing sort of figure, maybe a Gunner or even a Diamond City guard who was ballsy enough to finally say something about their little rag-tag group. A Miss Nanny robot was definitely a surprise, to say the least.

After a minute of probably impolite staring, MacCready finally recognized her. Miss Edna helped run the schoolhouse just outside the market. She hardly ever roamed around the streets, especially during the day when Mister Zwicky expected her presence at the school, so her floating in front of him was a little bit of a surprise.

Still, no one can be too careful. “Uh, why? Who’s asking?”

Miss Edna’s arms seemed to droop a little, “You do not remember? I introduced myself to you a little after you first arrived.”

MacCready turned so he could face her fully, “No, I remember you. You’re the teacher lady-robot. Look, I’m on a contract right now, okay? So tell whoever sent you that they’re either going to have to find another guy to do their job or wait on it.”

“No, no,” Edna gasped, clicking the retractable fingers, as if the idea of hiring MacCready was incredibly appalling. Before he could figure out whether or not he should take offense to that, she spoke again. “It is just, I had read the most recent edition of the Publick Occurrence and . . . “

She trailed off, clearly expecting MacCready to follow. He didn’t, not at all. “Okay. Um, how did that . . .go?”

Edna’s fans began whirring faster. Were robots programmed to experience nervousness? “The article you were featured in, it had given me a sort of inspiration,” She started quickly, her French accent causing the words to be a little too difficult to process right away for the merc. “I was wondering if I could ask you a question  -  “

By then, MacCready had caught up to the conversation. “Whoa, whoa, whoa, wait  -  What’re you talking about? Piper put me in the paper?”

Edna drew back slightly, “You did not know? The issue includes the story of yours and the Man Out of Time’s relationship  -  “

“ _Relationship_?”

“Yes,” the robot hummed dreamily, “It was very beautiful. She captured the feelings between you two wonderfully.”

“What feelings? What are you talking about?”

“The _love_ ,” Edna explained. If she had the capability, she would have been swooning. “I have noticed the bond you share when you come by the school to visit the little ones, and I thought I was the only one who had seen it but I am so glad I was wrong. This story, it has encouraged me to seek out a solution for my own  -  how would you say, _excusez-moi_  -  crush? And I was wondering if you could offer advice.”

“Wait, back up again for me, there’s an article about me?”

Edna confirmed with a, “ _Oui_.”

“Being in love with . . . ?”

“The Man Out of Time.”

“Who even is  -  “ And then it hit him like a kick to the stomach, “Logan? Piper wrote about _me_ being in love with _Logan_?”

“Yes, but she never specified on how it happened, and I was hoping you could  -  “

MacCready was already halfway down the street before she could finish her gushing, heading toward the entrance of Diamond City where he knew Publick Occurrences Offices would be open.

Edna hesitated behind him, watching him go, “Oh, I see you are busy. My apologies, _monsieur,_ maybe we could talk later?”

A lot of things started making sense in a very short period of time. That morning, when he passed Myrna on his way to Power Noodles, she smiled at him instead of blinking at him once and looking away immediately. Before even that, Becky Fallon had stopped him as she was sweeping the outside of her clothing shop and offered a fitting for a suit. MacCready had thought she was just trying to make a sale and had brushed it off.

“‘Ey, Romeo,” Someone yelled, and he knew it was directed to him, because why would anything go in his favor?

MacCready froze, shoulders hunched as he turned his glare to the offender.

John, the hairdresser of the city, gave him a winning smile. “Why don’t you stop by? Get a new look, keep everything fresh?” He waggled his eyebrows suggestively.

“I  -  _No_! Shut up!”

His laughter was loud enough that MacCready could hear it even as he stormed away and it made color flood high into his cheeks. He was going to find Piper, and there was going to be _hell_ to pay.

Publick Occrrences’ flickering sign finally came into view, but the only person who was occupying the office was the youngest Wright, Piper’s little sister Nat. She was stood upon her box, as is her want, holding what must have been the newest issue of their paper in one hand and gesturing with the other as she screamed her usual pitch.

“Publick Occurrence is here to pull the wool from out over your eyes!” It was almost comical how her eyes widened when she caught sight of MacCready stalking over. “Oh _crap_ \-  “

She scrambled off the crate as fast as she could, stumbling slightly and sprinting for the door to their small apartment. MacCready, however, was an agile sniper  -  self-trained to move quickly, quietly, and to catch bratty little kids who encouraged _lies_. He leaned over her in time to slam the door shut just as Nat pulled it open, causing her to yank on the doorknob uselessly.

“Let go, you idiot!” She growled.

“What did you and your _stupid_ sister write about me in that _stupid_ paper?”

Nat gave the door one last, fruitless tug and glared up at the other, “It’s not _stupid_ , you’re stupid!”

“Wha  -  “ He balled the hand he wasn’t using into a fist, letting out a frustrated groan and hissed out a, “Where is your sister?”

Spinning around and placing her hands on MacCready’s chest, she pushed him away with surprising strength. “She’s _out_ ,” she stated, then she slipped into the apartment and slammed the door before he could even think about stopping her. He could hear the deadbolt thunk into place and Nat triumphantly sing-song through the door, “We only print the truth!”

For a long time, he just stood there and stared at the spot where she had stood, wondering if he could get away with kicking the door down. Thoughts of the city guards dragging him away and into a cell in the Security Office where he would have to wait for Logan to bail him out, because the others would only give him shi  -  _crap_ about it. Especially Deacon. Besides, he hardly felt like explaining to Logan that he got arrested trying to break into their friend’s house to fight her little sister.

_We only print the truth!_

MacCready scoffed. Sure, they printed the ‘truth’. The incredibly vague, exaggerated truth. He narrowed his eyes at the paper Nat had dropped in her struggle to escape him, watching it flutter in the slight breeze but otherwise remain unmoving. He chanced a look around, making sure no one’s eyes were on him, then he snatched it up and sat down on the crate Nat used for her advertisement.

The headline alone was enough to make him cringe. “ _No Love Wasted in the Wasteland”._ What followed after was nearly embarrassing enough to rival the crappy romance novels they had scavenged back in Little Lamplight. The girls had loved them; they had even read them to the younger kids who had trouble deciphering the words. To MacCready and the other boys, however, it was absolutely cringe worthy, actually making him nauseous at some points, but _this_ ? This was even worse. This was like one of those books, but instead of some damsel desperate for love, it was him. _Him._

At that point, MacCready was willing to take the risk in kicking the door down.

He was moving before he knew it, almost breaking into a run to get to the Home Plate. Hancock was draped over the pool table when MacCready threw the door open, sitting precariously on the edge of a metal chair. Once he took the sniper’s expression in  -  no doubt red in the face and absolutely livid  -  a smirk spread across his face.

“Hey, man,” He greeted slowly. “Keepin’ it real?”

MacCready kicked the door shut behind him, “Where is she?”

“Who?”

“ _Piper_ ,” He sneered through gritted teeth. “And I swear, if you say ‘out’  -  “

“Oh.” He sat up and stretched, then fell back onto the chair as if he needed the time to think about it. “Uh, I think she’s with Logan. You know Logan, right?”

Groaning, he hid his face in his hands and when he spoke it came out slightly muffled, “Has everyone seen that stupid, dumb, _stupid_ paper?”

Hancock shrugged easily, “Yeah. It’s the only thing to read around here, y’know?”

That was a lie, MacCready knew. There was a magazine rack just up the small flight of stairs full of comics and old magazines. He narrowed his eyes suspiciously, “Where’s Deacon?”

Taken aback, the ghoul scoffed, “Who?”

The door opened once again before MacCready could respond, and the aforementioned railroad agent made his appearance, “I looked everywhere, the kid is better at disappearing than I  -  Whoa,” Deacon stopped dead in the doorway, effectively blocking it, “Hey there, Mac, you, uh, you certainly get around.” As nonchalantly as possible, he threw a look over his shoulder, “I don’t blame you, it’s a really great day for a _run_. Just, run as fast and far as you can  -  it’s perfect weather for running.”

“Oh, shit  -  “

MacCready pushed forward, “Is that Piper?”

Deacon tried to pull him back, “No! No, it isn’t!”

Refusing to even acknowledge Deacon, he slipped passed him and his eyes immediately found the young woman just as she was turning to make a break for it. He attempted to grab the collar of Piper’s trench coat, but she danced out of the way just as his fingers brushed against the material. “I know where your office is!” MacCready screamed after her as strong arms hooked around his waist and pulled him away  -  and consequently off of the ground. “I’ll burn it to the ground, I swear!”

“Why? Why, why?” Logan asked the other two men, desperately struggling to contain the squirming sniper in his arms.

Deacon had pressed himself against the wall farthest away from the two, “I don’t know, I seem to have lost my memory. I gotta go, though, see you later, bud!”

Hancock jumped up from his chair and followed Deacon out of Home Plate after patting Logan on the shoulder and muttering an amused, “Good luck with that, brother.”

MacCready tried to pry the arms from around him and simultaneously kick at Logan’s shins, “Put me the hell down, what are you doing?!”

The vaultie did as he was told and took a step back to maintain a safe distance. “What are _you_ doing? Why is everyone acting so weird?”

“Oh, you mean Piper didn’t tell you about her newest article?” MacCready asked a little hysterically.

“Um,” Logan furrowed his brow, looking incredibly confused. “I don’t - I don’t think so.”

He hesitated, wondering if he should just let Logan remain oblivious. It could play out two ways: He’d never find out about it and they’d never have to deal with it or he’d inevitably hear someone make a comment about it and he’d maybe just pretend like it never happened, just like MacCready was considering now. “It’s about us,” He told him anyway, trying his best to convey the message in little words to avoid actually saying it out loud.

It didn’t seem to do the trick. “Oh, was it about that one time with the Behemoth? I swear, I didn’t tell her about  -  “

“No, _Logan_ ,” MacCready crossed his arms close to his chest, feeling his face heat up even more. “It’s about  - It’s called, ‘ _No Love Wasted in the Wasteland_ ’, if that gives you any kind of hint,” He ground out, looking down at the concrete floor so his hat hid the redness in his face. He couldn’t bear to watch the Logan’s revelation as he finally understood the situation.

After a moment of silence, the vaultie asked, “And it’s about us?” MacCready nodded, digging his fingers into the sleeves of his jacket. “Do you have it?”

MacCready’s head snapped up, “ _What_ _?”_

“You didn’t take it?” Logan asked incredulously, “This is the first time you’ve ever been mentioned in any form of paper  -  by _name_ , mind you  -  and you didn’t even bother to bring it with you? I wanna read it, Rob!”

“Don’t call me that,” He replied instinctively, “And why are you acting like this happens all the time? Piper basically wrote a - a  -  “

“A love story,” Logan finished for him seriously, but MacCready could see that glint in his eyes that drove him crazy, because it usually meant something annoying and troublesome was about to happen to him. “Say love story.”

“Yeah, that! And now all the women are giving me looks and John wanted to give me a haircut and that robot teacher wanted me to help with her crush and  -  they believe _all_ of it! They really think we’re in love!”

“Okay?” Logan shrugged, “What’s the big deal?”

MacCready brought his hands up to frame his face, fingers pressing into his temples to alleviate the headache that was coming on. “‘What’s the big deal’?! Uh, that we’re not that!”

The vaultie adopted a disbelieving look, “I mean, are we not?”

What? “ _What?”_

“At least, I am a little bit.”

MacCready stared at him for a long moment, mouth hanging open and eyes drying from how wide he had been holding them open. “You’re being serious?”

Logan blinked, “I mean, I think that depends, y’know?”

“Well, if that’s the case, my reaction is going to depend on your seriousness.” A long, awkward silence followed. Logan seemed to be biting the inside of his cheek, but he didn’t look like he was trying to hide a smile. He looked toward the flickering light beside him, then back to MacCready. “You are, aren’t you? You’re being serious?”

Logan opened his mouth to say something but ended up shrugging as if to say, “What can you do?”

It was like all the anger, confusion, and embarrassment left his body in one fell swoop and was replaced with pure shock. “Wow.”

“Yeah, you know what? I get it, y’know?” Logan turned away from him, fiddling with the clasp to his chest armor. It finally came undone when he said, “It’s actually, now that I think about it, kind of douchey of me to drop that on you after you told me all that stuff about, y’know, Lucy,” He said the name with extreme care, and MacCready felt incredibly fond of the idiot in that second. He watched him ramble on for a moment without really listening, all while he pulled off the rest of his armor and dropped it onto the floor.

“But, what about your wife, Chanda?” MacCready asked, successfully interrupting the other’s rambling. “Don’t you still love her?”

“Of course I do,” Logan responded immediately. “And I always will, no doubt about it. But,” He looked down at his hands, which he was wringing furiously in his nervousness, with a sad smile. “I think she’d punch me in the face if I stayed hung up on her. Not  -  I'm not trying to replace her. Chanda's always going to have a spot in me. Like, I’m never going to forget her, she was my best friend.” He took a breath, still smiling a little, “Which is why I know she would want me to be happy, y’know?”

“Wow,” MacCready said again, because he did know. He thought of Lucy; her quick wit, her laugh, how she always wanted the best for him and how he would do anything to get the best for her.

“I’m sorry,” Logan told him, “If you thought I was, like, trying to replace _her_ , I’m sorry. I never meant to do that.”

“I didn’t think that,” MacCready said. “I also didn’t think that anything like this would happen when I told you all that stuff from before. I just  -  I wanted to be straight with you because you’re always honest with me, so I put everything on the table. And I’ve asked so much from you, like that thing with Winlock and Barnes and then going through all that trouble to get the cure  -  “

“I told you not to worry about that,” Logan remarked sternly. “I’d do that shit again if I had to.”

“Exactly. After everything you’ve done for me, I would think you’d only see me as some annoying kid who uses you to do my dirty work.”

“Oh, I do, for sure,” Logan cut in. “You’re super annoying.”

“I know,” MacCready snorted, playing along, then he shook his head and continued, “It’s been really long since someone’s cared for me enough to do something like that without expecting payment. I’m not used to it, I guess.”

Logan nodded, and after they let a comfortable silence fall over them, he let out a laugh, “I just can’t believe you thought I took you everywhere because I thought you were a good shot.”

MacCready narrowed his eyes, “What?”

“You’re shit with a rifle, Rob.”

“Bullcrap,” He scoffed, crossing his arms and rising to the challenge, “You’d be dead if I wasn’t watching your back. You need me.”

“Right, because who else would use up all of my stimpacks if you didn’t?”

“Probably the same person who would put up with you making them lug around all of those useless desk fans.”

“ _Useless_?”

That made MacCready laugh, and even after he didn’t stop smiling. He was happy, he realized. It had been a long time since he could say that, after everything that he’d experienced in the last few years. He hadn’t thought for a minute that when this dumb, stupid idiot had waltzed through the doorway in the backroom of the Third Rail however many months ago that he’d find himself here. Logan hadn’t only given him a job, he’d given him a cure for his son, a makeshift family, a safe place for him to rest his head  -  a reason to actually smile.

“Did you know they were doing this?” He asked suddenly.

“Who?”

“Piper, Hancock, and Deacon.”

Logan blinked, “They did all this on purpose? Shit, man, mazel tov. That’s impressive.”

“More like annoying  -  and kind of an invasion of privacy.”

The vaultie shrugged, “I think it can be forgiven. I mean, it was executed perfectly, y’know?” He furrowed his brow and lowered his voice in an impersonation of Danse, “ _Mission accomplished._ ”

MacCready rolled his eyes and turned away, heading for the door, “I’m going to the Dugout.”

“But  -  wait, I just got back  -  “

**Author's Note:**

> I watched Hercules the other day and nearly cried at the idea of Mac as Meg ft. Hancock, Piper, and Deacon as the muses during the song "I Won't Say I'm In Love". I also like to believe Piper spends her downtime writing fanfiction about her and the sosu's misadventures with the others.
> 
> Like always, if there's any mistakes they're mine and I would love if you yelled at me to fix them. (Especially the extremely simple French. I'm prone to making stupid mistakes, I'm sorry if I butchered it.)


End file.
